Texas hit-and-run bill could take away motivation for drunk drivers to flee

By Carol Christian

Updated 4:56 pm, Wednesday, April 3, 2013

The woman who left the scene of an accident in which a well-known Houston artist suffered fatal injuries was sentenced last month to eight years in prison, two years short of the maximum punishment.

Under a bill working its way through the Texas Legislature, she could have received up to 20 years.

Senate Bill 275 would increase the penalty for someone convicted of failing to stop and render aid. It unanimously passed the Texas Senate on Tuesday. The bill must also be approved by the House of Representatives and be signed by the governor before becoming law.

Jeremy Choate, a popular lighting designer for Houston theaters, was riding his motorcycle on Studemont at the Interstate 10 service road about 9:15 p.m. Aug. 11, when his motorcycle was rear-ended by a Ford Fusion driven by Shannon M. Garcia, 25, of Gainesville, Texas.

Choate, 33, died the next day.

Garcia left the scene on foot but was arrested later. On March 22, she pleaded guilty to failing to stop and render aid, a third-degree felony with a punishment range of two to 10 years behind bars and up to a $10,000 fine.

Under SB 275, the crime would be a second-degree felony, punishable by two to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 maximum fine.

The change would make the punishment level equal to that for intoxication manslaughter, which is relevant because many failure-to-render-aid cases involve an alcohol element, said Justin Wood, a Harris County prosecutor who serves as the Harris County District Attorney's Office liaison with the Legislature.

"Many times we're able to link these cases to possible intoxication," Wood said by phone from Austin. "But because the individual left the scene we're not able to prove the intoxication element. In many of the hit-and-run cases, the offender gets a free pass just by leaving the scene. It doesn't seem fair, compared with somebody who sticks around."

According to data from the Harris County District Attorney's Office, prosecutors filed failure-to-stop-and-render-aid charges in an average of about 114 cases per year between 2010 and 2012, ranging from 132 in 2010 to 94 in 2012. The data do not differentiate between accidents that resulted in injury and those involving death, Wood said.

Part of the impetus for Watson's bill was a 2011 Austin accident in which a legislative aide, Gabrielle Nestande, fled the scene after fatally striking 30-year-old Courtney Griffin.

In February, a Travis County jury convicted Nestande, 25, of criminally negligent homicide in Griffin's death. Nestande was sentenced March 25 to 10 years probation, six months of which must be served in jail, and a $10,000 fine.